Neisseria gonorrhoeae multi-antigen sequence typing using non-cultured clinical specimens

Objectives The Neisseria gonorrhoeae multi-antigen sequence typing (NG-MAST) system, based on PCR amplification and sequence analysis of the gonococcal porB and tbpB genes, is widely used for molecular typing of gonococcal isolates but is not validated for non-cultured clinical samples. This study sought to examine the performance of the NG-MAST system on a range of non-cultured samples. Methods Nucleic acid extracts of 73 N gonorrhoeae-positive samples, comprising eight cervical swabs, nine urethral swabs, 35 urine samples, one vaginal swab, 13 rectal swabs and seven throat swabs, were analysed by NG-MAST. For 27 specimens, corresponding gonococcal isolates were also analysed and the results compared.